On the day that Singapore fell February 15th 1942,
a Japanese invasion fleet was sailing towards the Palembang oilfield in
south Sumatra. Sumatra was at the time part of the Dutch East Indies.
The oil in the region was most abundant and among the sweetest crude oil
produced anywhere in the world, and this made it something the Japanese
wanted badly. The retreating allies had destroyed the refineries and
wells in Borneo and Celebes. This annoyed the Japanese and gave them
cause to issue a warning that "The head of every European will be cut
off in an area where a well or refinery is fired". When this warning
was first given during the invasion of Borneo, the Dutch civilian oil
workers blew the massive Balikapapen oil refinery regardless.

The initial objectives of the Japanese in south
Sumatra were the main airfield at Pangkalanbenteng (called P1 by the
British) at Palembang in south Sumatra and the Royal Dutch Shell oil
refineries at Pladju (Pladjoe) a few miles from Palembang. They needed
the airfield to reinforce and resupply and to use as a base in the
conquest of north Sumatra and Java.

From the Dutch point of view the key to the
defence of Palembang and its attendant airfields was by holding the
invaders at the Moesti River which had to be traversed before the three
objectives could be reached. The Dutch knew it was pointless trying to
stop the Japanese on the beaches because of the superior Japanese naval
gunfire support.

To defend Palembang, under the command of KNIL
Lieutenant Colonel L. N. W. Vogelesang, were about 2,000 troops. They
included one battalion of KNIL regulars at P1. One Landstrom battalion
and 8 stationary 7.5 cm field guns at Palembang, plus two armoured cars
(type unknown) at P1 and three more at the other airfield at
Praboemoelih (known as P2 by the Europeans). A machine-gun company of
KNIL regulars was stationed at the oil refineries. The RNN minelayer Pro Patria
(Lt.Cdr. L.F. Guiot) and the two patrol boats P-38 and P-40
patrolled the Moesti River. Elements of the 6th RAF Heavy AA Regiment
had six 3.7 inch AA and six 40 mm Bofors AA guns at both airfields and
a further four of each type at the oil refinery. The ship carrying the
ammunition for these guns had been sunk and the available ammunition
had to be rigidly conserved. Elsewhere in Sumatra, there were six KNIL
militia battalions plus some Landstrom companies. These units were
scattered throughout central and north Sumatra and were largely
immobile and so played no part in the battle for Palembang and south
Sumatra.

Bamboo spears should stop the Japanese paratroopers.

The Royal Air Force had set up 225th RAF (Bomber)
Group at Palembang in January. Many of the planes had flown from the
Middle East and Egypt. Most squadrons lost planes along the way. These
planes were Blemheim 1, 1Fs, 1Vs and Hudson IIs and IIIs. In the Middle
East these planes were considered out-classed by the newer German
fighters so they were released for service in the Far East. Their
original destination had been Singapore but events overtook this
planing and the planes ended up in Sumatra. These squadrons had been
searching for, and mounting raids against, the incoming Japanese fleet
and had lost many aircraft as a result. Most of the squadrons were low
on serviceable planes on the morning of the invasion. About 35 assorted
Hudsons of 1st RAAF, 8th RAAF, 59th RAF and 62nd RAF Squadrons were
available, while 34th RAF, 27th RAF, 84th RAF and 211th RAF Squadrons
had about 40 serviceable Blemheim bombers.

The 226th RAF (Fighter) Group had been set up at
Palembang in early February. The aircraft from 232nd and 258th RAF
Squadrons had flown their Hurricane Mk1s off the flight deck of the
aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable on January 27th. Of the 48
Hurricanes that arrived at Palembang that day and a reinforcement of
seven Hurricanes from Tjililitan on February 13th, only 15 remained
serviceable by the time of the Japanese invasion. During the period
leading up to the invasion the Hurricanes had given as good as they got
from the Japanese, with a kill ratio of about one to one.

The Allied aircraft had caused the enemy some
grief. In an attack by six Hudsons from 84th RAF Squadron on the
morning of the 14th the Japanese transport ship Inabasan Maru
was sunk and several others damaged. The same morning another 9 Hudsons
were shot down while attacking the Japanese ships, mostly by the
Japanese A6Ms of the 22nd Air Flotilla, operating from Kahang airfield,
in southern Malaya. Some of the Hudsons and Blemheims found and
attacked the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryujo, with one near
miss being recorded. Flight Lieutenant Jim Douglas of 1st RAAF Squadron
was recommended for a VC (posthumous) for this action, but this was
refused and instead a DFC was awarded.

On the morning of the 13th the former Yangtse river steamer Li Wo,
skippered by Lieutenant T.S. Wilkinson, RNR, whose ship was part of the
general exodus of small craft from Singapore, ran into the Palembang
invasion force. Li Wo armed with a 4 inch gun and two
machineguns fired at the Japanese transports setting one on fire and
damaging several others. All the while the Li Wo
was under fire from the escorting Japanese cruisers. This action continued for an hour and a half until the
Li Wo ran out of ammunition. Wilkinson then rammed the nearest damaged enemy
transport before his small ship was destroyed. Wilkinson received a
posthumous Victoria Cross, the only VC awarded in the Netherlands East
Indies Campaign.

When the Hudsons 84th RAF Squadron arrived back
over P1 a very strange occurrence took place. They flew through a
flight of 34 Lockheed 14s going in the opposite direction. These were
Japanese licence built Ki 56 Transport aircraft of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Chutais who had just completed their paradrop mission over P1 airfield.
18 Ki 21 bombers from 98th Sentai, who had dropped supplies for the
paratroopers, accompanied the transports. A large force of escorting of
Ki 43s from 59th and 64th Sentais were not distracted from their task
of protecting the transports and ignored the Allied bombers. Even
stranger the Blemheims of 211th RAF Squadron on their way home to P2
actually flew through the paratroopers descending on Palembang
refinery. It was later found out that the Japanese were unaware of the
existence of P2 and so it was not raided or assaulted by paratroopers.

All Hurricanes were ordered to return to base and
attack the transports or the paratroopers on the ground. On the ground
aircrew who had just landed, horrified by the sight of descending
paratroopers, manned their planes and took off, inviting anyone nearby
to jump aboard. All incoming planes were ordered to P2 as the Japanese
had made no move against it. A Hurricane shot down one of the
transports, this was confirmed by the Japanese. Most of the Hurricanes
flew around P1 strafing the paratroopers. Three Hurricanes with faulty
radios landed at P1 after it had been closed because of ground fighting
but managed to take off again for P2, with tanks on dead empty. In the
middle of all this chaos 9 Hurricanes from 488th RAF Fighter Squadron
who had been ordered to move base from Batavia to Palembang, arrived
over P1, unarmed and out of fuel. The A6Ms shot down two while four
landed at P1 and were refuelled in record time and sent off to P2 two
others failed to find P2 and crash landed in the jungle.

Despite vigilant patrols by the RAF and US
Catalina planes based further north, and an extensive network of coast
watchers and lookouts. The slow, low flying Japanese paratrooper
transports had managed to arrive over the target with complete
surprise. This was largely due to the smoke from the fired oil wells to
the north in Borneo and Celebes and the great fire at the fuel storage
depot in Singapore, that had blanketed the entire region in grey smoke.

THE ATTACK HAS COME FROM THE AIR ! The Japanese paratroopers are landing at Palembang, 14 February 1942

The 180 men from the 2nd Parachute Regiment (Colonel Seiichi Kume) dropped between the town and P1, a further 90 men came
down west of the refineries at Pladjoe. Apart from the Dutch native troops the only regular British soldiers were the AA gunners, the RAF
ground personnel had been issued with rifles and bayonets in England but these weapons had been taken away and given to the Army after they
arrived in the East Indies. Of the 260 or so air and ground crew about 100 were unarmed, but steps were taken to remedy this!
Machineguns were taken from unserviceable aircraft and set up on dirt mounds and the
Bofors were prepared to fire horizontally over open sights.

Some Japanese paratroops set up a roadblock
between P1 and Palembang. The roadblock changed hands numerous times
during the day. One of the first RAF vehicles caught by this ambush was
a petrol bowser which exploded and burned all day and night. An airman
passing by this place latter in the day described it as being strewn
with the bodies of Japanese, British and Dutch soldiers and airmen.

At P1 the Allies beat off the Japanese attacks.
Most of the aircrew was evacuated during day and by the evening only
60-armed personnel remained. The fighting had been bitter, some of the
newly arrived RNZAF reinforcement fighter pilots (from 266th Fighter
Wing) found themselves involved – ill-equipped and untrained – for
close quarter fighting with paratroopers. In the night the remaining
unserviceable aircraft were destroyed and the store fuel in 44-gallon
drums was collected and set ablaze.

At the Pladjoe oil refinery the Japanese managed
to gain possession of the complex intact. A counter-attack by Landstrom
and AA crews from P2 managed to retake the complex, but took heavy
looses. The planned demolition failed to do any serious damage to the
refinery but the oil stores were set ablaze.

Two hours after the first drop another 60 men were
dropped from a dozen transports west of P1. Also the regiment commander
arrived in a planned landing by a transport west of P1, the plane also
contained a rapid-fire cannon.

Most of the Allied air strength in the East Indies
had now assembled at P2 airfield - 35 Blenheims, 20 Hudsons and 22
Hurricanes (most of 266th Fighter Wing had been diverted to P2). A
reconnaissance mission flown over Palembang by a 258th RAF Squadron
Hurricane revealed an exodus of vehicles of all types away from the
town towards P2 while the town itself was blanketed in black oil smoke
from the burning stores. That night some Hudson aircraft were ordered
to Java.

At dawn the next morning the Japanese troops
disembarked from their transports into landing craft and proceeded up
the Moesi, Salang and Telang rivers towards Palembang, the issue had
now been decided but the fighting was not over. RAF Bombers attacked
the landing ships and the Japanese transport ship Otawa Maru
(5000 t) was sunk. Hurricanes flew up the rivers machine gunning
landing craft full of soldiers. On the afternoon of the 15th all
aircraft were ordered to Java on completion of allotted tasks along
with unserviceable aircraft that could fly.

The oiltanks burning at Palembang, Sumatra Island on February 14, 1942.

In the action on the 14th the Japanese paratroopers
failed in their attempt to take the airfield at P1 and took about 80%
casualties in the attempt. The paratroopers at the oil refinery did
take their objective but did not have sufficient strength to hold it.
They did manage to disarm most of the demolition charges placed in the
complex before they were driven out. This paradrop did however have the
same hallmarks of earlier and latter drops, that is defending command
structure hysteria and a general mass confusion as to what had
occurred. The Allies evacuated southern Sumatra by the evening of
Monday the 16th of February 1942.